Kavanaugh will begin making the rounds on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, accompanied by former Sen.

The White House hopes Kyl's close ties to Senate Republicans will help smooth the path for Trump's eventual selection to win confirmation. John McCain of Arizona, is ill and may not be able to participate in the confirmation process.

During the announcement Monday evening, Trump called Kavanaugh a "judge's judge" and a "thought leader among his peers".

The nomination, if confirmed by the Senate, would represent one of the most consequential decisions of Trump's presidency.

Trump said in the wake of Kennedy's retirement that he would not be asking potential justices about Roe v. Wade.

Red-state Democrats aren't just feeling heat from the right. Hardiman was counted as a front runner during last year's nomination that ultimately went to Gorsuch. That gave Trump his another chance to make a lasting impact on the Supreme Court and to give conservatives a 5-4 majority. "I'm open to voting no", Jones told CNN on Sunday.

"Just as they held the Merrick Garland seat open on the Supreme Court, they also held open an bad lot of vacancies on the district courts and the courts of appeal", said Russell Wheeler, who tracks judicial nominations at the Brookings Institution. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said in a statement on Monday.

To be successfully confirmed, Kavanaugh needs 51 votes in the Senate.

"As I have said, part of my job as Senator includes thoroughly considering judicial nominations, including to the Supreme Court". "I will take the same approach as I have previously for a Supreme Court vacancy". But the president in recent days seemed to narrow his shortlist for the court down to two other appellate judges, Brett Kavanaugh and Thomas Hardiman. "My position does not change with the naming of a nominee today". In dissenting against the Affordable Care Act, Kavanaugh claimed that "the President may decline to enforce a statute... when the President deems the statute unconstitutional, even if a court has held or would hold the statute constitutional".

The White House invited a number of senators to attend the Monday night announcement, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and committee member Kennedy.

President Trump has made his decision, and the next person to face the Senate Supreme Court confirmation gauntlet will be D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Mr. Walker also said the judge is a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, dissenting in a case where he argued that originalism and the Supreme Court's precedent suggest Americans have the right to own a semi-automatic rifle. Some conservatives said Paul said he might oppose a Kavanaugh nomination, but Paul did not publicly say he would vote against him. The group says it has reserved air time nationally and in those same states for another four weeks. The court could also be called upon to render judgment on issues of personal significance to Trump and his administration including matters arising from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing Russia-related investigation and several civil lawsuits pending against Trump. "My standard for reviewing Supreme Court nominees remains rigorous and exacting", Murkowski said in a statement.